Latest images of progress

Board 3 continues to make good progress. Final ballasting has now been achieved with some blending of colours to do. I got outbid on a model JCB on ebay, so the ballast pile will have to wait for its digger.

Around the steps area you can see the new side walls, the area of bark chippings and the new edging stones.

Colin

WHR and FR taster videos by John Wooden

No excuses not to visit! Make sure you make your way to the top left hand corner of Wales this Summer...

much to report

Progress has been fast, so fast that I haven;t had time to blog...!

Anyway, all 4 station lamp columns have been wired up and an extra light added for inside the station shelter (wendy house). These were wired in parallel to two pieces of copper clad (one for positive, the other negative). To this were soldered two brass right angles, making it easy to attach the 12v DC supply by way of croc clips. Wires were then run from here to the two adjacent boards (via the usual kyosho connectors) to the lighthouse LEDs that act as point indicators.

The wendy house itself has had 3 coats of raw umber, with one final coat to come. The slate roof has had two coats of grey, but will also have some weathering yet.

The KMX tamper shed (container) has been positioned, as have the two platform flower beds. The two planters have been painted and filled with soil.

The area around the steps/ramp has been tidied up and the steps have gained wing walls. These will soon have coping stones added.

The 4 Rhyd Ddu signs have been painted black and that wiped off to show the letters in white. The rail posts have been painted black ready.

Fencing has all been painted ready for installation next week.

The next jobs are:

- fixing the water tower legs in place ready for their tanks.
- adding the final details to the platform including finishing the wendy house and installing
- final spot reballasting (a few patches)and painting to merge in with the other ballast colourings
- adding flowers to the area near the ramp and the planters (these have already been made up using busch kits)
- adding signs
- adding the two new trees from canyon creek (they are in the post apparently).

and then it's on to the last board...

Colin

update with images

Hi,

Below are some images of where I'm up to:

Board 2 has been completed and sent back downstairs - a point indicator using a lighthouse LED has been added (this is operated by a switch on the point motor), the grassland has been upgraded, ballasting tidied, track painted and details like the gates, rail stack and anti-pedestrian pieces added.

Now attention is on board 3. Dad visited with his new Peter Spoerer lining pen on Friday and added the yellow line for the platform. I've also added grass to the bund at the top of the car park/yard area, added extra static grass across the open ground, removed stray ballast, spot reballasted and repainted the rails.

Next I need to add the walls at the side of the steps, lots of fencing and platform details... on the latter note the rail posts for the nameboards have been cut and painted black and holes in the platform drilled for them. I've also created 2 more nameboards, which despite running out of 'D's was fun. I made more from half an 'O' and an 'I'!

New book...by me!

I have written a book - a photographic journey of the FR and WHR - 80 pages, over 140 photos. The profit will go to the WHR reconstruction fund.

Click on the link below to preview/buy...

The Ffestiniog...

A Photographic Journey

By Colin Lea

Book Preview

NGG16 loco policy

So, I have three NGG16s:

- 1 - is complete in SAR black livery, but with all the SAR details that the WHR locos lack (sun visor, cab roof details etc), and riveted tank/bunker.

- 2 - is mostly complete as a WHR engine with smooth sided tank/bunker and is modelled on 138. Work is stopped on this until the real 138 reappears so we can check details such as pipe runs etc (and colour! - although it is expected not to be green, perhaps red?)

- 3 - is a kit that arrived yesterday.

The actual WHR stud is as follows:

- 87, which sports a shorter cab (no window at the back) and riveted tank/bunker amongst other details. Currently in light aircraft grey, but expected to go black in the next few years.

- 143, in SAR black livery but expected to be withdrawn next year for overhaul. Expected to stay black as it is the last steam loco built by Beyer-Peacock. Flat sided tank/bunker.

- 138, currently in bits under overhaul, expected to return in 2010 in a new livery. Flat sided tank/bunker.

- 109, recently purchased from Exmoor by Pete Waterman and expected to run on the WHR in 2011 in LNWR lined black. Flat sided tank/bunker as shown here http://pete.railnuts.com/2009/07/06/lnwr-goes-narrow-gauge/ and images on the July 6th story here http://whr.bangor.ac.uk/whlatest.htm

So, what's the plan?

-1- to gain new flat sided tanks/bunker from the new kit -3- to make it into 143. Cab details to be amended and repainted. Plates to be painted blue, smokebox colour to be toned down from the current silver.

-2- to be completed as currently once details known of the prototype following overhaul

-3- to gain riveted tanks from -1- and be built as No. 87 with shorter cab etc. Outshopped in grey.

So, if we assume that 138 comes back red, we then have black, grey and red engines. A lined LNWR black No. 109 can come next year once these three are up and running.

The target is to have these 3, plus K1 (marching forward apace and ready to be transferred to the valve gear workshop in Cheltenham asap), Russell (practically complete already), Merddin Emrys (even closer to completion) and the two funkeys (Vale of Ffestiniog and Castell Caernarfon) ready for Autumn 2010. Other engines that will likely make that deadline are:

- Criccieth Castle and Harlech Castle as the new 08 shunter chassis with outside frames is a joy to run.

- Taliesin as this kit is 70% done.

- Blanche (complete already)

- Beddgelert (needs detailing)

A push to get ready (in priority order):

- Conway Castle (new doors needed plus a way of attaching the bullant to the body)

- Upnor Castle (kit to be purchased in the next few weeks, thus behind in the list)

- Baldwin 590 - in need of lots of detailing and work to improve reliability of front pony truck. etc

- Moel Tryfan - needs rods.

- Lyd, Dad's kit and no work started.

- Prince, I'm not happy with the ibertren chassis, so will probably swap for the mercian kit

- 4415 Kerr Stuart diesel, again not happy with chassis.

- Palmerston - no kit yet, buy another mercian?

- Lyd2 'Eryri' - no chassis yet and likely to be very expensive as an 0-6-0 + jackshaft, custom bullant seems best way, but not a priority at all.

- Gowrie - don't have a kit or chassis yet.

No plans at present:

- Other double fairlies especially DLG - await roco (although a recent story in the 009 news states roco have cancelled the project!)

- Linda - await new parkside chassis with outside frames launch

- Britomart/Lilla/smaller FR diesels - too small for DCC

- Dick Kerr diesel WW1 - very ugly indeed.

Colin

Board 2

Board 2 has moved upstairs for treatment. Already the ballast has been tended to - Thomas is hoovering up the loose bits! I have also decided to remove the very yellowy-green conifers and to respray them a better green. There is one in the corner of this board and 3 others on the next board. 2 new conifers have been ordered from here: http://www.canyoncreekscenics.com/

This board features the first point to be properly degummed.

The edges of the first three boards have also been painted black for presentational reasons.

Colin

First board ready

As well as creating some very fiddly busch flowers this weekend, I also finalised board one - the bridge handrails were added, scenery tidied up, sleeper grime reapplied and now this board goes into store as materially complete (save for the backscene).

Colin

lay out the layout

I have decided to take each board upstairs for the following work:

- to complete outstanding scenics such as grass patches, fencing, station area details etc

- to improve the area around the board edges

- to complete wiring where it needs to be done (mainly the points decoder installation)

- to de-gum the points anc chekrails and reinstall (if necessary) the point motors

- to remove stray ballast from the railhead and spot reballast where gaps are found

- to apply a second coat of sleeper grime to the alignment

- to test the electrics

- etc

Moving each board upstairs will ensure I can get very good light and also makes it a bit more social than spending hours in the garage!

The first board has been taken upstairs, spot reballasted, board edges improved and tested. Tomorrow it will have its sleeper grime painted on and the bridge handrails will be attached. It will then go into store (i.e. back to the garage) as a complete board (save for the backscene, which will be a winter photoshop panarama job).

Colin

What's been happening?

Lots as usual, just not had the time to report on here yet.

Much work has been focused on K1 - a key loco for obvious reasons. This kit was bought from the 009 second hand sales stall with just one pair of cylinders complete. Dad has helped me get the bogies square, mount the wheels square on axles and add the crankpins (things that could have gone very wrong), but apart from that I've done the rest myself, which I'm quite pleased with given how fiddly these kits can be!

The tanks, firebox, boiler cradle and cab were started last year, and it has been relatively easy to join these together with 14BA screws (after the firebox and boiler were joined), add white metal castings and to create the bulk of the boiler/cab unit.

I then turned my attention to the bogies - detailing them with the sandboxes, brake rigging (very fiddly) and overlays. The other cylinders were also completed with their wrappers soldered and the various bushes etc reamed and installed. [cylinders not shown below]

I have now started on the gearboxes, with the central 12T gear installed on a short axle.

and the main shafts carrying the two worms to the two wheels cut to length. Unfortunately I need a larger vice to install the worms on this axle though.

So, putting it together (more detail has been added to the bogies since this shot) and balancing it all for a photo (note that the tanks are not square as they are just placed on at the moment), the loco looks a bit like this:

For some light relief, I've also started work on my Baldwin... a white metal chivers kit on a farish 08 chassis.

It needs detailing yet but the main bodywork is all on and looking pretty good. These white metal kits are just an exercise in filing until pieces fit correctly...my workbench is covered in little bits of white metal!

One further job which has been mind-numbingly boring has been fencing - over 100 small posts have had 4 holes in each drilled out with a 0.7mm drill. They're all done now thank goodness!

Taliesin has had some attention to correct the shape of the rear toolbox - the kit has the earlier type of angled top toolbox included, but this has now been altered to a flat top box, as per the real engine.

Pickering Brake - I picked up a kit off ebay a few weeks ago and this has entered the carriage works for cleaning up, folding and de-fretting. It hasn't got any further than that though.

Platform benches - Dad has completed these fiddly benches for me. They just need little dragons for the sides. cool!

NGG16s - the prototype railway has announced that a fifth NGG16 (no. 109) has been bought by Pete Waterman for restoration at Crewe, and use on the WHR from 2011. I currently only have 2 NGG16s, and given that these are the main motive power for the line (and my progress at making Taliesin and K1), I have decided to sell the unmade double fairlie and Linda kits I have, to buy another NGG16 kit.

Upnor Castle - Allen Doherty tells me that this kit will be available for mid August. I already have a bullant motor bogie for it, so this will go straight into the works when I receive it, as it's such an important loco for the layout.

Colin

Little blue engine

Tonight I have been hacking about an old saltford models simplex kit (which is for a longer chassis version with a cab) and adding some details to create a (non-running) model of Dolgarrog. It just needs a brake lever from somewhere now (and painting).

The idea is to leave it in one of the Rhyd Ddu yard sidings as a static exhibit. There is little chance of getting a motor in it, and even less of getting a DCC chip in!

The chassis sides and white metal details were from the kit, the other bits mainly being plasticard additions.

This model differs from the real Dolgarrog in a number of minor ways, but when painted blue only those who really know the loco will be able to spot them I think. One of the alterations is the seat (the real Dolgarrog has a wooden slat seat), but with a driver added you won't see that and it will be much more solid for handling.

some bits and pieces

Both traversers are now wired up and just need some of the rail ends chopping back, but I'll do that when I've got the rest of the hidden sidings erected.

Powerbond - great stuff. Better than superglue as you get some time to rearrange stuff before it fixes. After it has hardened, it's strong. I bought a bottle at the NEC (well shared one each with Dad). I've gone through that now and ordered another. Their branding seems to have altered (new on left, old on right), but the name and the stuff are the same.

Both the funkeys have completed bogies now.

Colin

update

Traverser wiring.

Both traversers have had their 6 roads cleaned and tested: I found one area with damaged sleepers, so these were replaced. I then removed the last sleeper on each length of track. Copper clad sleepers have replaced them on one traverser, these were glued down, a gap created in the middle using a saw and then the rails soldered to them. Later the rail ends will be cut to exact length, for now they are ok. I ran out of copper clad though so the second traverser awaits a delivery from Dad's store.

Both traversers have however had wires soldered to each road and these returned back to a central piece underneath the board. using flying croc clips all roads were tested and worked fine.

Jobs left: copper clad installation on traverser 2; connect +/- to hidden sidings board using a tamiya/kyosho clip and trim rails to length.

Other news

Two small planters have been created out of plastic strip for the platform. Flowers are being put together for these and also a display near the steps.

A worsley kit for the porthole bug box was completed with sides/ends/seat and wheels done, roof to follow the installation of mesh for the sides. I have prepared another Pickering brake kit for soldering by cleaning it up and removing it from the fret.

The open topper bus has been stripped of its markings and red stripe by applying mek to it and wiping off with a rag. This is now ready for transfers when I get the time to have a go at the crafty paper - see post below.

Colin

Home setup thoughts

The above might look like lego, but I can assure you that it's not. These are some diagrammatic representations of how the layout could be set up. I need to think about this before I finish the hidden sidings!

The top one shows the layout as complete, with hidden sidings in dark blue, Rhyd Ddu boards in light blue and potential future boards (for the Ffestiniog layout) in grey. The total footprint is 8 x 16 feet or 128 square feet.

The second one shows the Ffridd Isaf section as set up for a small home test track. The red box would be a new 2 road board, a hidden sidings board being used at the other end. This would be approximately 10 x 8 feet (80 sq feet) depending on the length of the new sidings. Potentially two smaller hidden boards say of 2 feet length could be used, making this a tighter 7x6 feet footprint (that's just 42 square feet).

The third shows how the layout would look if the Ffridd board was replaced by the hidden sidings board. This makes the footprint 6x12 feet or 72 square feet.

The fourth shows this same arrangement, but also without the 2 foot square board at the Pitt's Head end, with the station board continuing straight on to the hidden sidings. This is thus 14 x 6 feet or 84 square feet. This option could of course also include Ffridd Isaf but this seems pointless really as it makes the layout longer, but the same width as the full layout setup.

The idea is to install holes for baseboard alignment in enough places to make all of the above possible.

PS I've left off teh triangular section at the corner of Ffridd Isaf as I couldn't find a quick way of adding it in MS visio!

crafty!

With the painting season likely to start up pretty soon, I've been thinking about transfers. Blackham (http://www.blackhamtransfers.com) make very nice transfers indeed, although almost all have to be pre-ordered. The problem is that they are very expensive when you need the kind of quantities I need - just think about crests for the modern bogie stock (4 per carriage)!

Thus I have been looking at alternatives and I reckon this stuff could be an option:
http://www.craftycomputerpaper.co.uk/ProductDetail.asp?ProductID=158&CatID=15

Where I can create my own artwork (the crest for example is easy) all I need do is buy some of this paper (£1.55 an a4 sheet) and print my own!

I would be interested if any other modellers out there have tried it...

Colin

a year of blog stats

It's a year since I started recording visits to this site via google analytics. In that year I can report:

9472 unique visits, with each visitor looking at 1.73 pages (reflecting the fact that most just look at the recent posts on the homepage)

Each visitor spent an average of 1 min 18 secs on the site

37% typed the URL directly, 21% came via google, 6% from the 009 society website (this link was only added later in the year, so the real total would be higher) and another 10% from various other blogs etc. The rest is made up of other search engines, image searches and WHR forums etc

There were over 1023 different search terms that resulted in visits to the site, some very bizarre!

Given that this blog was set up principally as a method for ensuring that I kept the project going, to tell family and friends what was going on, to act as a kind of project diary and as a respository for images of the layout, I think these figures are pretty good.

General update

After finding some triangular section plastic strip I have experimented and created this initial section of anti-pedestrian section. There will be more to go astride the running rails, but the point was proved and these will now be fabricated.

I've also completed the bogies on the two funkeys, these are now ready for painting.

The smaller portaloo has had a plasticard plinth created and it painted grey to represent a kind of slate base. I'm sure you'll agree that it looks much better now next to the larger variety.

Two (the kit gives you two) Mark 2 Quarryman's carriages have been soldered together up to this state - the seats are also done and roofs pre-curved ready. Unfortunately the wheelsets foul the floor (a problem with the kit) so I need to cut some holes for the flanges in the floor. Ho hum.

The Romanian carriage 2060 has had its roof strips added - I used mek pak to melt the plastic onto the brass - enough to keep it in place until the paint goes on.

and the 1st obs 2100 has had its domed roof end added using filler.

The two bike wagons have had their internal doors made in plasticard and brass false door fronts added. All they need now are the bike racks. I've even printed out the bike and luggage symbols to the correct size on my home printer.

and finally... some of you will know that I work in the transport industry. Although I work with buses all the time, I'm not exactly an enthusiast of buses. I'm much more interested in marketing the concept and the commercials underlying it - routes, fares etc.

However, I feel it would be interesting to model the Express Motors open top service that calls at Rhyd Ddu. This is a Brsitol VRT open top and EFE do a model of it. In order to allow an easier repaint I selected the whitest livery I could find - south wales skyrider. However the model comes with no top deck railings, so I purchased (for £2.25) a brynkits conversion kit. This is etched in steel and via some clever folding legs allows the railings to be attached as in the shot below...

I've also been drilling holes in the traversers ready for wiring, which should start tomorrow.

Finally, I have some wagons painted by my fair hand for sale on ebay, go here for more details: http://shop.ebay.co.uk/merchant/colinlea009

Colin

News from roco

I can (exclusively) reveal that the roco 009 ready to run double fairlie will be a model of.....

'Livingston Thompson' now resident at the National Railway Museum.

At the moment the loco is not to be DCC ready, although this may change. It will be to 1:76 scale an thus be 009 rather than HOe. It will cost upwards of £200, but this will vary with the exchange rate of course.

[this has been confirmed by roco to me in writing].

Colin

What's left to do on the layout?

A list of the main hurdles to completion:

1. - Wiring - I need to add the point decoder (a simple matter of connecting wires) - 10 mins or so and then test it all (much longer).
2. - Hidden sidings - the traversers need wiring up (relatively easy with DCC) and brass bolts added to allow easy alignment of tracks.
3. - Backscene - a nightmare that won't go away. I may yet decide to just have a backscene on the edges of the far boards only.
4. - Fencing - in stock and should be no issue to install
5. - Scenic detailing on the car park area
6. - A few final details on the platform such as flower beds, bins, benches (in stock) and the yellow line around the edge of the platform
7. - Road markings (rub-on transfers in stock) for Pitt's Head road
8. - Completion of the water towers (basic structures complete, one tank complete) especially the strappings
9. - Taking a dental pick to the ballasting to remove bits that have welded themselves to the inside of the running rail and reballasting/painting rails where necessary
10. - Doing the same for the point blades and potentially reinstalling point motors where required.

The next areas to concentrate on are 1,2,5,7,9 and 10 as completion of these will allow full testing of the layout. also item is currently easier as that board is the correct way around for access!

Colin

A safe haven for stock

Tonight (as well as finishing the two bike wagons off) I have been experimenting with a new purchase - a KR multicase. http://www.krmulticase.co.uk/railwayuk.html

After much rearranging of the foam inserts, I was able to line them up to take 10 WHR saloons per tray (there are 2 trays):

Then on goes a protective top layer of foam... there is another between the two trays.

and the case closes up with a convenient handle...stock is safe. The two trays lift out with attached fabric handles. A very neat piece of kit and at £27 (free P+P) a decent deal too.

Recommended.

JdF of 'County Gate' put me on to this company, he uses the more expensive aluminium flight cases and info can be found here:

http://www.009.cd2.com/storing.htm

Colin